A Place Called Home
by illrain666
Summary: The fallout, six years later. Sequel to 'Secretly'
1. Chapter 1

A Place Called Home

Prologue

Six years ago…

They sat side by side in silence. The boy kept flicking a plastic lighter on and off absentmindedly while the girl just stared at her hands like she had never seen them before. It was dark and cold in the garden, and in the distance the warmth and light of a mansion beckoned, but they both ignored its invitation. They seemed to prefer to keep each other company in the gloom.

Presently, the boy sighed. John Allerdyce studied his companion for a few seconds out of the corner of his eye then, seeing her shiver, he took off his battered leather jacket and handed it to her without a word. Kitty Pryde accepted the offering with a small grateful sound and bundled herself into it. She then looked at his profile in the darkness.

"Aren't you cold?" she asked.

"No." He shook his head. "Don't feel the cold."

"We haven't done this in a while," she said, with a rueful tone in her voice. "I've missed it."

"That's because you've only shown up here again tonight," he told her. "I guess you've been busy."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I've been busy." She looked away from him when she said it.

They both pretended that was true. What was left unspoken was that she had been avoiding him, again, for the past few days. Or, maybe, she hadn't been avoiding him. Maybe she had really been busy with something. He had seen her coming out of the library earlier in the afternoon. He was about to go and say hi when he saw that she wasn't alone. From their flushed faces and Kitty's reddened lips, he could easily guess what she and Peter Rasputin had been doing together. He had walked away quickly before they saw him.

He wanted to ask her about that right now. He wanted to know what it meant. But he held his tongue. Since they were friends, he had to wait for her to tell him about it, if she wanted to. That was what friends did, right? They told each other things. Except that there were so many things that he could never tell her, _because_ they were friends.

"Peter asked me out," she suddenly said. And there it was. Fact. Immutable. Staring him right in the face.

He looked at her. He had to first think very carefully on how to respond to that little announcement.

"What did you say?" he finally asked.

"I told him I'd think about it."

_Liar_, he suddenly wanted to shout. _Liar. You've already made up your mind. Why are you still putting me through this?_ He thought all that, but he didn't speak the words. Instead, he said, "Do you like him?"

"He's very nice."

He noted but chose not to point out that she hadn't actually answered his question. He just shrugged. "Then you should go out with him."

"You really think so?" she half-whispered.

"Yeah." He nodded. "If you like him."

"Okay." She nodded, too. "I think you're right."

He stood up abruptly. "You know, I got a test tomorrow. I better go back and study for it."

"Sure. I'll head back with you," she said.

When they reached the mansion, they found it eerily silent. John's skin prickled. He sensed danger. He was suddenly reminded of that dreadful night when soldiers had attacked the school, the night that had changed all their lives forever. He reached for the lighter he had put away in his jeans pocket and prepared himself for whatever may happen next. Kitty must have felt the same unease, too, because she grabbed his hand quite unconsciously. She didn't seem to feel the lighter they held between their clasped hands.

They both jumped in surprise when Mr. Logan, the Wolverine, came charging around the corner. He suddenly stopped and glared at them. "What are you two doing here?" he growled. "Something's happened. Everyone's in the rec room."

"What's happened?" Kitty asked, feeling the first stab of fear when she saw how grim the older X-Man looked.

"Magneto," he told them. "He's back."

"What?!" John felt like a vise had closed around his throat.

"It turns out the Cure is temporary," Wolverine spat out the words in disgust. "Now come with me. We're monitoring the news."

Miss Munroe, Storm, came up to meet them as soon as they arrived. John saw that the whole school was packed inside the room, and everyone looked scared.

"It's been confirmed," Storm said. "Magneto has attacked the White House. He has assassinated the President."

"Good God!" Kitty gasped.

"What's next, _Pyro_?" Bobby was suddenly in John's face. "Does he come after the X-Men next? Huh? Or maybe he doesn't have to. Hell, you're already here. Did he leave you detailed instructions on how to destroy the school?"

"Go fuck yourself, asshole!" John snarled. "I didn't have anything to do with this!"

"Yeah, sure! As if you're not gonna be running off to join that psycho the first chance you get!"

John had had enough. He punched Bobby in the face, hard. The other boy staggered and almost fell but Peter steadied him. "Shut the fuck up!"

The room suddenly became colder by several degrees.

"The two of you stop it!" Storm ordered furiously. A very loud clap of thunder punctuated her words.

Ice began to form on Bobby's skin and clothes.

John shook his hand free from Kitty's grasp and quickly flicked on his lighter. A fireball formed at his thought and it began to grow and grow.

"John, no!" Kitty stepped between the two. "Bobby, don't do this!"

They ignored her.

"Kitty." Peter started towards her. He looked ready to grab her and get her far away from the two adversaries in a second's notice.

She saw John's eyes narrow and she knew that he was going to make his move, get the drop on Bobby before the other boy knew what hit him. Acting on instinct, she took hold of John and phased them both through the floor. He yelled out in surprise and anger, and his fireball exploded in a thousand sparks.

"Fuck you, Kitty!" he screamed at her. He looked so enraged that she thought for a moment that he was going to strike her. "Fuck!" he screamed again. Then, giving her a cold glare, he stalked off.

She ran after him. "John, I'm sorry! But I couldn't let you and Bobby fight each other. You could have hurt a lot of people back there."

He just kept walking. She saw that he was making his way to the garage.

"John, talk to me. Please." She saw him pick out a car. "What are you doing? You're not going back to Magneto?"

He stopped and looked at her. She had never seen him so weary and bitter before. "I'm not going back to Magneto," he told her.

"Then where are you going?"

He sighed and shrugged. Then, softly, he said, "Come with me."

That was the last thing she ever expected him to say.

"Come with me," he repeated. "Come on, Kitty. Come with me."

"But where would we go?" Her heart was racing with some strong emotion that she was afraid to put a name to. But she knew that she didn't want him to just leave like this.

"I don't know. A beach, somewhere. Anywhere." Then he added in a whisper, "With you."

Slowly, she nodded. "Let's go," she said.


	2. Chapter 2

A Place Called Home

Part One

"Are you ready?" Peter asked.

Kitty took a deep breath. "As I'll ever be."

"Good." He nodded. "You can let go of the controls then."

She looked down at her hands. They were still tightly gripping the controls of the Blackbird that she had piloted. She laughed weakly. "Yeah," she said, mocking herself. "I'm really ready."

He gave her an understanding smile. "You can still go home," he told her. "I can do the tour alone. It's only for the next three months anyway. I'll call and write every day so you won't miss me too much." He said it lightly, but she knew that he was perfectly serious. All she had to do was say the word.

"I think," she said, "that's a bad idea. No. I'm doing this. It's about time."

"All right. If you're sure."

"Yes. I can do this," she assured him.

He gave her another smile, and then he suddenly leaned over and kissed her. She was breathless when he finally pulled away. "What was that for?" she teased, amused by his impulsiveness.

"Because I love you," he said.

"I love you, too," she responded.

She suddenly realized that he felt as nervous as she did. He just concealed the emotion better. But Peter Rasputin, the Colossus of the X-Men, was afraid. She knew he was afraid for her.

"It's gonna be okay." She spoke with a certainty that she didn't feel. "I can face him."

She didn't say _his_ name, though. She wondered if Peter had ever noticed that. Never, not once in six years, had she said his name to anyone. She was afraid that if she did, just the sound of it could wound her again.

"Come on." She took Peter's hand and led the way out of the Blackbird. Her head was held high and her step was confident.

Inside, she felt like she was crumbling. She had been dreading this duty for weeks, ever since Storm had informed them that it was Peter's turn to do the tour in New Hope Island. To everyone's surprise, she had volunteered to go with him. In the two years that the X-Men had been monitoring the progress of the mutant community on behalf of the government, no one had ever thought to assign Kitty on a tour. They had all assumed, and with good reason, that she never wanted to see Pyro again.

Six years ago, when Magneto had been depowered, Pyro had come back to the Xavier Institute to be rehabilitated. He and Kitty had become close; so close that when Magneto regained his mutant abilities and effectively declared war by assassinating the President, the two of them had run off together, though no one knew or understood why. She had never confided in anyone about what had happened between the two of them during that time, but all the X-Men knew what had happened _afterwards_. She had turned him in to the police and he had gone to jail. Then he had escaped and went back to Magneto's Brotherhood, and Kitty had never been the same again.

Four years of bloody war had followed. But then Magneto had died, killed by Wolverine, and Pyro had become the leader of the Brotherhood. Mystique had also rejoined the group by this time and, in a completely unexpected move, they had sought peace with the government and the X-Men. Somehow, the two of them had gotten their hands on a mutant called Gaea who, like her namesake, had power over the earth. The Brotherhood had then struck a deal. The government would purge the criminal records of all Brotherhood members and they would get Gaea to create a place where any and all mutants could be relocated to if they so wish and live there free from persecution and fear. It meant an end to the violent conflict, so the government had agreed and New Hope Island had come into being in the middle of the Pacific with the recognition of the United Nations. Of course, there were some strings attached to the deal; the most important of which was that the X-Men were tasked to make sure that New Hope Island and its super-powered citizens would not present a threat to the human race.

Things had gone very well so far. Though there were still some groups, notably the Friends of Humanity headed by Graydon Creed, who continually protested and demonstrated against the creation of the Island, the X-Men did their duty and the Brotherhood kept their part of the peace. Pyro, especially, was lauded for his leadership. He was the man who had made the dream of a mutant homeland possible. Storm had been impressed by the change in him in spite of herself, and even Bobby Drake, the Iceman, had grudgingly admitted that his former friend had defied expectations and actually accomplished something good.

It was after Bobby gave a positive report of his tour that Kitty decided that maybe it was time for her to confront old demons and see Pyro again. After all, what had happened between them was six years dead and rotting in the past, and it was time to finally bury it. Deep, where it could never hurt her again. Where _he_ could never hurt her again. She wanted to prove to herself that she was over him and that she had forgiven him. She also wanted the chance to show him that he hadn't broken her.

She just didn't want to think that maybe she had missed him, too.

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Mystique slipped into his room in that gracefully reptilian way she had of moving. She went to join him in front of the full-length mirror where he was staring dully at his reflection.

"They've arrived," she announced.

Pyro nodded. "Have their quarters been prepared for them?" he inquired.

"Yes. They will be staying together." She studied his expression carefully when she gave him that particular piece of news. She seemed pleased when she saw that he had evinced no reaction to it, at all.

"Good. I'll meet them for dinner later." He moved away from the mirror and sat himself down on a chair in one corner of the room. He made a little sound of weariness. "Some days," he said, "I wonder how the old man ever kept it all together."

"Erik may have been the visionary," Mystique told him, "the general. But you and I were the ones who got things done. All his rhetoric is useless in this new world we've created, so don't waste any more grief on him. He's been dead too long."

He gave her a keen look. "You've never really forgiven him, haven't you?"

She shrugged. "I understood his actions. I would have done the same thing if our positions had been reversed. But, no," she admitted. "I've never really forgiven him."

"What's it worth anyway?" he mused. "Forgiveness?"

"Nothing," she said. "It means nothing."

"_She_ means nothing." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself as well as Mystique. "She can't touch me anymore.'

"That better be true. A leader can't afford to have any weaknesses." And with those cold words, she left him alone to his thoughts.

Those thoughts were painful. Pyro remembered how Kitty Pryde had broken him. Not that she had been the first to do that. Quite a good number of people had preceded her and done their part in the destruction of the boy once known as John Allerdyce. His parents had been the first, teaching him indifference and cruelty, and how to wield the two like weapons. Then Bobby and Rogue, his _friends_, falling in love with each other and casting him out with every longing look they exchanged in his presence. The Professor, for all his power to divine the thoughts of men, failing to realize that the lost boy he took in needed more than the absentminded kindness of a benefactor. Magneto and Mystique, nurturing the fire within him, giving him a taste of home and belonging, but only so they could use him for their own ends. Then, it was her turn. And, somehow, what she did to him was worse than all the other betrayals. Because he had really thought, he had really hoped, that she would be different.

And now, he was going to see her again. He supposed that he should be feeling devastated, or at least angry. But she had ripped out his heart a long time ago, so it wasn't really there to make him feel much of anything anymore.

He just felt hollow. But that was certainly better than pain.


	3. Chapter 3

A Place Called Home

Part Two

He seemed taller than she remembered. The blond was gone from his hair and it was the old dark brown again. Not slicked back though; it was just combed very neatly, making him look serious and dignified. The black suit he was wearing also did its part in transforming his appearance from the punk boy she had known to this disturbingly quiet man. And that was what troubled her about this mature Pyro. He was too still, too controlled. All the fire seemed to have gone out of him.

When he looked at her and welcomed her to the Governor's residence, his eyes held absolutely no emotion.

"Allow me to introduce you to Gaea," he told them, very polite and very proper. Kitty couldn't believe that this was the same boy who used to get into fights as naturally as breathing.

A little girl, about five years old or so, looked up at her with wide eyes. She was clinging to Pyro's hand. "Hello," Gaea greeted her shyly.

Peter knelt down and smiled at her. "Hello, Gaea," he said. "It's very nice to meet you. My name is Peter." He handed her a brightly wrapped box. "Warren, Angel, asked me to give this to you when we met. He hopes you'll like it."

She brightened at the mention of Angel's name. "When is Mister Angel coming back?" she asked. "I want to fly again."

"Not any time soon, I'm afraid," Peter answered. "But I promise that he will definitely come back to see you and take you flying again." He took Kitty's hand and pulled her gently forward. "This is Kitty. She can't fly but she can walk through walls, and on air. Maybe the two of you could be friends.'

"Really?" She looked excited at the walking through walls part.

"Yes. Maybe sometime."

The little girl's smile faltered at the cool note in Kitty's voice. Pyro frowned at her, surprised by her attitude. She just met his gaze impassively. Peter got to his feet and shot her a glance of disapproval. She pretended not to have noticed.

"It's past your bedtime," Mystique told Gaea. "Now thank the nice man for the gift then off to sleep." She gave a signal and two aides rushed to take charge of the child.

"Thank you," she said, smiling at Peter. "Goodnight." She didn't look at Kitty.

"Shall we go in to dinner?" the shapeshifter invited. Pyro took her arm and escorted her to the dining room, Kitty and Peter following behind them along with the other guests.

The conversation was genial as the two X-Men got to know the ruling Council of New Hope Island. Except for Pyro and Mystique, none of them had been members of Magneto's Brotherhood. They were men and women born with the X gene, who had found a home on the Island and who now did their part to make sure that others of their kind found the same.

One of them was a woman named Allona Biers. She was a firestarter but she couldn't control the fire. She was the opposite of Pyro who could manipulate fire but who couldn't create it.

"So there I was," she was telling a story now to illustrate that point. "The whole house was just going up in flames and I was trapped inside and completely panicking. Then Pyro came in and the fire just started dying down and he looked so furious at me. He said, 'The next time you try anything like this again, I swear to God I'll have you cured!' And that was absolutely the last time I tried to heat water with my powers instead of doing it the old-fashioned way on the stovetop."

The company laughed at this anecdote. Pyro, though, wasn't amused. "You were very careless," he told her. "The whole south side of the Island could have burned up."

"Yes," she said contritely. "I know. That's why I've been working very hard to control it. And you've helped me out a lot with that." She smiled at him till he stopped scowling at her.

Kitty had a sudden flash of insight. _The two of them were lovers_. It was in the way Allona looked at him, the charge in the air whenever their glances met. She saw that Mystique was studying her, and she just knew that the other woman was aware of _her_ history with Pyro.

"Miss Pryde," Allona turned to her, "I understand that you and Mister Rasputin used to go to school with our Pyro here."

She nodded. "Yes, we did." She sensed that Peter had gone very still beside her.

"What was he like back then? I bet he was the most uptight boy in school." Her eyes twinkled at Pyro teasingly.

"On the contrary," Kitty said. "He was always in some sort of trouble with the teachers. He spent half the time in detention."

"Really? I find that a bit hard to imagine, knowing the way he is now."

"People change," Pyro said quietly. He looked right into Kitty's eyes when he said it.

"They do," she agreed.

The others at the table were confused by the undercurrent of tension between the two of them. Peter looked very uncomfortable while Mystique remained her usual contained self.

Pyro broke the stare. "That was an excellent dinner," he said. "Shall we retire to the drawing room, ladies and gentlemen?" He stood up, and everyone followed his lead.

"Your residence is lovely," Peter complimented, trying to revive the convivial mood of the evening.

"Thank you," he replied. "We have Worthington Industries to thank for it, actually. Angel has been very generous with all the aid he has given to New Hope."

"Is there somewhere I can go to freshen up?" Kitty wondered.

"Here. Let me show you," Mystique offered. Kitty walked after the shapeshifter and she was led to a simply-furnished powder room. The older woman didn't leave her, though. She watched as Kitty cooled her face with some water and reapplied her make-up.

"Congratulations," Mystique suddenly said.

"For what?"

She approached Kitty then reached out to tug gently at her necklace. There was a ring strung through it. "You may not be wearing that on your finger," she said, "but I know an engagement ring when I see one. Very nice." She smiled maliciously. "Did you come all the way here just so you could throw that in his face?"

"No," she denied. "I didn't come here for him. I came here for me."

"What? To get closure?"

"It's none of your damn business." She regarded her old enemy with defiance.

"All right." Surprisingly, Mystique nodded and backed away. "I have to thank you, though," she said. "He became the man he is now because of you. You taught him the one thing that Erik and I somehow never managed to teach him."

"And what is that?" she wanted to know.

"You taught him to be cold."


	4. Chapter 4

A Place Called Home

Part Three

She had changed. The girl he had known was a woman now. A sad and angry woman, who seemed more untouchable than ever, and not because of her mutant power to become intangible. The only time he ever saw her exhibit some softness in her demeanor was when she was with Colossus. With everyone else, she was cool and distant. He supposed that he was to blame for that.

Since she had arrived on the Island, except for the night they had dinner, she had stayed out of his way. She had gone about her duties, helped out where she was asked to, and even presented reports to the Council; and she had done all this with efficiency and professionalism, but without a single spark of her old personality. There were times when he wanted to grab her and shake her, make her angry, make her react, anything. Anything at all, anything but the way she drifted through the days like a ghost.

It was her fifth week on the Island when he finally got his chance. He found her standing by one of the windows that lined the hallways of the residence. She was staring out at something intensely, and there was an expression of such pain on her face that he felt it himself. Silently, he crept behind her and took a peek at what had caught her attention.

It was Peter. He was laughing while he played with Gaea in the garden.

"Why don't you just give him one of those?" he asked. "I'm sure he'd love it."

She turned around and looked at him with such venom that he was taken aback. He thought she was going to say something to him, probably something hurtful, but instead she just phased and walked right through him.

"That's right," he said. He had had enough of her attitude. "Ignore me. You're very good at that. God damn it, Kitty! Come back here and face me."

To his surprise, she did just that. She came back and she hit him with all her strength.

He wiped away the blood from his cut lip and gave her a mocking grin. "Feel better now?" he asked.

With a low growl of anger, she attacked him. They phased through several rooms then she tossed him with a neat little move and he crashed against a table, very solid again. "You bitch!" For the first time in years, Pyro felt a rush of strong emotion. He hit her back and, for the next few minutes, they fought bitterly, exchanging blows with abandon. He discovered that she was an extremely skilled fighter, quick and wily. He wasn't as proficient in hand-to-hand combat, but what he lacked in finesse he made up for with brute strength. Though Mystique had failed to instill the discipline of the martial arts in him while he was her pupil, he had experienced no difficulty in picking up her dirty tricks. So, despite the fact that she was the better fighter, he still managed to beat her.

She stared up at him, bruises already forming on her delicate face. He thought she had never looked so small before.

"Kitty?" He was stricken with horror and remorse at what he had done. "Oh, God. Kitty, I'm sorry." He tried to reach for her but she flinched away from his touch.

"Don't! Get away from me!" she cried. "I hate you!"

"Kitty, please. I didn't mean it." He knelt before her.

"Get away!" she screamed.

The door burst open, and Allona and Mystique came in. "What happened here?" Allona exclaimed. She saw Kitty and she gasped. "Good Lord!" She rushed to help Kitty to her feet. Her eyes were wide with shock as she looked at Pyro. "What did you do to her?"

He couldn't say anything. He just stood there.

"Peter," Kitty said. "I want Peter." She started to sob brokenly.

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Pyro didn't move from his chair when Peter Rasputin smashed into his room later. He merely waited and he didn't make a sound as the steel Colossus grabbed him and threw him against the wall.

"You son of a bitch!" Peter picked him up and slammed him against the wall again. "How could you do that to her? Why do you keep hurting her?"

"Just kill me and get it over with!" he begged. "Do it!"

With a sound of disgust, Peter dropped him. "You're not worth it," he spat. "We're leaving tonight. I'm taking her away from here and away from you, and you are never going to be able to hurt her again. The X-Men will know about what you've done, and I don't care whatever the consequences may be but I will make sure that you will pay for this."

"Then go," he said, his voice low and bitter. "Take her away. Marry her, have babies, live happily ever after. God knows she deserves it. After everything I've done."

Peter changed back to his natural form. He regarded Pyro with a furious yet pained expression. "You don't even know _all_ that you've done to her. You weren't there. You didn't see what she was like when she came back."

"I was in jail," he responded. "_Where she sent me_. Of course I wasn't there."

"Then let me tell you what you missed." The other man spoke harshly, and each word seemed to burn into Pyro's soul. "She wouldn't let anyone touch her or get near her. She didn't want the doctors examining her to check if she had been abused. She didn't want the prosecutor to use that against you. She begged Storm and Beast to give you another chance, and she fought Bobby, defending you. She wrote to you every single day. I know, because I was the one who mailed the letters. The other X-Men tried to keep her from contacting you, but she asked for my help so I helped her. Then every day, she waited for you to write back. But you never did. And then one day we just found out that you had rejoined Magneto, and do you know what happened then? She just collapsed. She hadn't been taking care of herself or eating properly, because she had kept thinking and worrying about you. That was when we found out that she was pregnant. But she was so weak that she lost the baby, and she almost died. The doctors had to do something to save her. What they did made sure that she could never have children anymore. And I've done my best to pick up all the pieces and put them back together, but I know it's never going to be all right again because you'll still be there between us and just the memory of you destroys her every time. So don't you dare talk to me about happily ever after. We are never going to have that because of you."

"I never read her letters," he confessed. "I was angry and hurt, and I didn't want to think about her. So I threw them away as soon as I got them." He looked at Peter pleadingly. 'Let me see her. One last time before you go. I need to explain. I need to tell her."

"No." Peter shook his head. "She never wants to see you again."

"Come on. Please."

"No. It's too late, Pyro. It's all over."


	5. Chapter 5

A Place Called Home

Part Four

She stared straight ahead as Peter went through the launch sequence of the Blackbird. Ordinarily, she would be the one piloting the aircraft but they both knew that she was in no condition to do that right now. She had been in a state of shock since her fight with Pyro.

"Don't worry." Peter smiled at her reassuringly. "We'll be home soon."

"Kitty! Kitty!"

In the runway lights they could make out a figure running towards them. They knew who it was even before he stopped right in front of the jet, waving his arms to get their attention.

"I'll have us out of here in a minute," Peter promised as the engines roared to life.

"Wait." She placed a soft restraining hand on his arm. "Let me talk to him."

"Kitty, are you -?" He was astounded. "Why would you still want to talk to him after everything?"

"Because I've never really talked to him about what happened between us." She said this sadly. "There are things I need to say, then it will all really be over."

Before he could convince her otherwise, she phased until she was standing on the airstrip facing Pyro.

"Kitty, forgive me," he began, moving towards her.

"Please don't apologize," she told him. "You don't have to. I know."

"I wish –" he choked, "I wish I could go back and make it all happen differently."

She came nearer until she stood right before him. "I used to hate you," she admitted in a whisper. "When we were kids, I thought you were the most awful boy in school. Then I hated you when you became the enemy after you ran off with Magneto. But later, when you came back, I stopped hating you. I started to care instead. However, we all know how that turned out." She gave him a little smile. "Now, I don't know. You hurt me more than anyone else. And you also touched me like no one else. I do know that I will never forget you, and I will always miss you. But now it's time to let you go."

He nodded and smiled at her, then he blinked back the tears that had sprung unbidden to his eyes. "Kitty, please be happy. Wherever you go, whatever happens to you, I want you to be happy. I know I've hurt you badly, and I can never be sorry enough for that, and I hope to God that there was some way I could make up for it, some way that I could make you happy instead. But – I'm not the one."

She touched his face gently and kissed him. "Okay," she said. "I'll be happy. I promise."

"Goodbye, Kitty." He started to walk away but then she called out his name.

"John?"

He turned to look back at her.

"What if we had kept on driving, where do you think we would have ended up?" she asked. His answer seemed important to her.

He thought about it for a minute. "Probably a beach, somewhere," he told her with a smile. "Drinking gin."

She laughed. She watched him until he disappeared from view. Then she went back to the jet and took the seat beside Peter.

"Let's go home," she told him.

The End

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(This was driving me crazier every day, so I finally wrote it down just to get it out of my head. Ugh.)


End file.
